Detana!! TwinBee, originally released outside Japan as Bells & Whistles, is a vertical-scrolling shoot-'em-up game originally released by Konami in 1991 as a coin-operated video game. It is the fifth game in the TwinBee series and the second released for the arcades following the original Twinbee.
Detana!! TwinBee marked the debut of Japanese animator Jujiro Hamakawa (credited under the pen name Shuzilow.HA) as the series' primary character designer for every subsequent installment.Detana!! TwinBee was awarded "Best Shooting Game of 1991" by the Japanese arcade game magazine Gamest.
Plot
Set several years after the events of the original game, Twinbee and Winbee are relaxing at their island when they receive an SOS signal from the distant planet of Mel. The signal contains a message sent by Princess Melora, who pleads for the salvation of her planet from the invading forces of the evil alien Iva. TwinBee and his friends decides to set off to outer space to defeat the forces of Iva and save Planet Mel. Detana!! marks the first appearance of TwinBee's and WinBee's respective pilots, Light and Pastel, who became prominent characters in many subsequent TwinBee video games.
Gameplay
Aside from the improve graphics and sounds compared to previousTwinBee installments, the gameplay in Detana follows the same conventions established in the arcade version of the original. As usual, the game can be played by up to two players, with player 1 piloting TwinBee, while player 2 pilots WinBee. Controls consist of an eight-way joystick for moving the ship and two buttons. In the Japanese version, one button is used to fire the gun at airborne enemies while the other is used to drop bombs to the ground. In the international arcade release (Bell & Whistles), both buttons are used to do shoot and drop bombs at the same time. This time, holding down the shooting button will cause power-meter at the bottom of the screen to fill up, allowing the player to fire a "Big Shot" attack when releasing the button.
The power-ups consist of bells which can be uncovered by shooting the floating clouds, as well as items uncovered by destroying land enemies. Like in the original TwinBee, the player can shoot the floating bells to change their colors. In addition to the five different colors in the original TwinBee (yellow, white, blue, green, and red), there are two new additional bells as well: a purple bell that provides a "tail shield" that activates multiple barriers around the player's ship and black bell which decreases the player's speed.
The mini-bell and the lucky star from the original TwinBee return as well. GwinBee, a ship similar to TwinBee and WinBee, also appears in the game, allowing the player to combine its ship with GwinBee to fire wider fire beams. Two players can also align their ships side-by-side to achieve the same effect or align their ships vertically for a powerful five-way spread. If both players align their ships with GwinBee between them, he will spring out and destroy all on-screen enemies.
The game consists of seven stages. After the game is completed once, the player can play the game again for a harder second round. The game ends entirely after the second round is cleared. After a game over, the player can continue and receive a "free" power-up.
Stages
Stage 1: Valley of the Wind
Stage 2: Sea of Clouds
Stage 3: Fortress in the Sky
Stage 4: Death Valley
Stage 5: Groundwater Fountain
Stage 6: Eve's Temple
Stage 7: Underground City
Bosses
Stage 1: Mecha-Spider
Stage 2: Flying Ghost Ship
Stage 3: Windmill Guy
Stage 4: Mekakurage
Stage 5: Red Mechanical Worm
Stage 6: Precious Metal
Stage 7: Insect Brain